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Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is an acute and reversible cardiac condition triggered by an adrenaline rush in response to stress that is characterised by apical ballooning of the left ventricle in the absence of coronary artery obstruction. Although the exact pathophysiology remains unclear, it is believed to be secondary to the release of adrenaline or catecholamine in response to stress. We present the case of a 71-year-old female who presented to a district general hospital (DGH) at approximately 1700 pm in the evening with signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis following the consumption of pistachios the night before. She woke up with mild shortness of breath (sob) in the morning at 0900 am. The symptoms progressively got worse after midday, and she developed throat tightness and mild tongue swelling at 1600, prompting her to attend the local hospital's accident and emergency department. Following evaluation in the accident and emergency department, she was given 0.5 mg of adrenaline one in 1000 (1 mg/mL) solution intramuscularly for a delayed allergic reaction to pistachios. She developed central chest pain and tightness within minutes of receiving the intramuscular adrenaline, and an electrocardiogram showed ST elevation in the lateral leads and ST depression inferiorly. She was transferred to our cardiac centre for emergency coronary angiography, and bedside echocardiography revealed mild to moderate left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD). Coronary angiography via the right radial access showed unobstructed coronaries. Left ventriculogram (LVG) post-angiogram demonstrated apical ballooning suggestive of TCM secondary to adrenaline administration for anaphylaxis to pistachio. Departmental echocardiography revealed a mild LVSD with an ejection fraction of 45%. She was started on bisoprolol in addition to her regular medications. Echocardiography demonstrated normal left ventricular function three months later, and the patient was discharged from the outpatient clinic.

Treatment of certain diseases requires the administration of drugs at specific areas of tissues and/or organs to increase therapy effectiveness and avoid side effects that may harm the rest of the body. Drug targeting is a research field that uses various techniques to administrate therapies at specific areas of the body, including magnetic systems able to drive nano “vehicles”, as well as magnetically labeled molecules, in human body fluids and tissues. Most available actuation systems can only attract magnetic elements in a relatively small workspace, limiting drug target applications to superficial tissues, and leaving no alternative cases where deep targeting is necessary. In this paper, we propose an electromagnetic actuation system able to push and deflect magnetic particles at distance of ~10 cm, enabling the manipulation of magnetic nano- and microparticles, as well as administration of drugs in tissues, which are not eligible for localized drug targeting with state-of-the-art systems. Laboratory experiments and modeling were conducted to prove the effectiveness of the proposed system. By further implementing our device, areas of the human body that previously were impossible to treat with magnetically labeled materials such as drugs, cells, and small molecules can now be accessible using the described system.

The downstream processing of natural active molecules remains the most significant cost in the production pipeline. This considerable cost is largely attributed to rigorous chromatographic purification protocols. In an ongoing effort to abate the dependence on chromatography in downstream processing, alternative affinity matrices in the form of magnetic particles (e.g., iron oxide) have emerged as viable candidates. Nevertheless, biotechnological applications of iron oxide particles are still confined to the research level or for low-throughput clinical applications. Herein, we describe an efficient, quick, and environmentally friendly method for the isolation of astaxanthin and lutein, two carotenoids with very similar chemical structure, from extracts of the microalga Haematococcus pluvialis. The technology proposed, named Selective Magnetic Separation (SMS), is based on the use of magnetic materials carrying affinity ligands that bind carotenoids and is applied as second step of purification. The method, thanks to functionalized magnetic nanoparticles, reduces the use of organic or toxic solvents. In the present work, we examined the most efficient binding conditions such as temperature, magnetic nanoparticles concentration, and elution time, as well as their effects on carotenoids recovery, with the aim to improve the non-covalent binding between the ligand (amines) and astaxanthin/lutein. Our initial results clearly showed that it is possible to use magnetic separation as an alternative to chromatography to isolate important and valuable compounds.

Key Clinical Message Lead perforation is a life‐threatening rare complication of pacemaker or defibrillator lead implantation. Clinical examination, electrocardiogram, device interrogation, echocardiography, chest x‐ray, and chest computed tomography scan can help in the diagnosis. Clinicians should be aware because early diagnosis and treatment are the cornerstones for achieving a better outcome. Lead perforation is a life‐threatening rare complication of pacemaker or defibrillator lead implantation. Clinical examination, electrocardiogram, device interrogation, echocardiography, chest x‐ray, and chest computed tomography scan can help in the diagnosis. Clinicians should be aware because early diagnosis and treatment are the cornerstones for achieving a better outcome.

Left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC) is a congenital heart disease with autosomal dominant inheritance. This review aims to summarize the existing data about the predictors of fatal arrhythmias in patients with LVNC. Medline and Cochrane library databases were searched from inception to November 2021 for articles on LVNC. The reference lists of the relevant research studies as well as the relevant review studies and meta-analyses were also searched. Clinical symptoms and electrocardiogram findings such as left bundle branch block are significantly associated with ventricular arrhythmias. Other non-invasive tools such as Holter monitoring, echocardiography, and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) can provide additional value for risk stratification. CMR-derived left and right ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, late gadolinium enhancement, and non-compacted to compacted myocardium ratio are predictive of ventricular arrhythmias. An electrophysiological study can provide additional prognostic data in patients with LVNC who are at moderate risk of ventricular arrhythmias. Risk stratification of LVNC patients with no prior history of a fatal arrhythmic event remains challenging. Symptoms assessment, electrocardiogram, Holter monitoring, and cardiac imaging should be performed on every patient, while an electrophysiological study should be performed for moderate-risk patients. Large cohort studies are needed for the construction of score models for arrhythmic risk stratification purposes.

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) constitute a promising technology that could fulfill the extreme performance and capacity needs of the upcoming 6G wireless networks, by offering software-defined control over wireless propagation phenomena. Despite the existence of many theoretical models describing various aspects of RIS from the signal processing perspective (e.g., channel fading models), there is no open platform to simulate and study their actual physical-layer behavior, especially in the multi-RIS case. In this paper, we develop an open simulation platform, aimed at modeling the physical-layer electromagnetic coupling and propagation between RIS pairs. We present the platform by initially designing a basic unit cell, and then proceeding to progressively model and simulate multiple and larger RISs. The platform can be used for producing verifiable stochastic models for wireless communication in multi-RIS deployments, such as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications in autonomous vehicles and cybersecurity schemes, while its code is freely available to the public.